Government is not going to change the law: YOU NEED TO CHANGE IT FOR THEM.

Real # count:

YES

46024

NO

10014

About: NRA and Mayors Against Illegal Guns

Mayors Against Illegal Guns:

As mayors, our highest responsibility is to enforce the law and to protect the people we serve. One of the most difficult challenges we face in meeting this responsibility is preventing criminals from illegally obtaining guns and using them. The issue of illegal guns is not conservative or liberal; it is an issue of law and order -- and life or death.

We support the Second Amendment and the rights of citizens to own guns. We recognize that the vast majority of gun dealers and gun owners carefully follow the law. And we know that a policy that is appropriate for a small town in one region of the country is not necessarily appropriate for a big city in another region of the country.

But what binds us together is a determination to fight crime, and a belief that we can do more to stop criminals from getting guns while also protecting the rights of citizens to freely own them. We have seen how the polarizing rhetoric of gun politics on all sides only obscures the tragic reality we see every day on our streets: violent criminals with easy access to illegal guns.

We are honored that more than 950 mayors from big cities and small towns from across the country have joined the coalition of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, and we welcome other mayors to stand with us. We are committed to working with our fellow mayors to share best practices, develop innovative policies, and support legislation at the national, state, and local levels that will help law enforcement target illegal guns.

Each mayor in this coalition has signed a statement of principles committing us to this fight. While we will each have different strategies for pursuing those principles, we all agree on the goal: protecting the rights of Americans to own guns, while fighting to keep criminals from possessing guns illegally.

We welcome further contributions to this Web site from our members and we hope it will be a comprehensive resource for each of us as we move forward together to make all cities safer.

Dismayed by the lack of marksmanship shown by their troops, Union veterans Col. William C. Church and Gen. George Wingate formed the National Rifle Association in 1871. The primary goal of the association would be to "promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis," according to a magazine editorial written by Church.

After being granted a charter by the state of New York on November 17, 1871, the NRA was founded. Civil War Gen. Ambrose Burnside, who was also the former governor of Rhode Island and a U.S. senator, became the fledgling NRA's first president.

An important facet of the NRA's creation was the development of a practice ground. In 1872, with financial help from New York State, a site on Long Island, the Creed Farm, was purchased for the purpose of building a rifle range. Named Creedmoor, the range opened a year later, and it was there that the first annual matches were held.

Political opposition to the promotion of marksmanship in New York forced the NRA to find a new home for its range. In 1892, Creedmoor was deeded back to the state and NRA's matches moved to Sea Girt, New Jersey.

The NRA's interest in promoting the shooting sports among America's youth began in 1903 when NRA Secretary Albert S. Jones urged the establishment of rifle clubs at all major colleges, universities and military academies. By 1906, NRA's youth program was in full swing with more than 200 boys competing in matches at Sea Girt that summer. Today, youth programs are still a cornerstone of the NRA, with more than one million youth participating in NRA shooting sports events and affiliated programs with groups such as 4-H, the Boy Scouts of America, the American Legion, U.S. Jaycees and others.

Due to the overwhelming growth of NRA's shooting programs, a new range was needed. Gen. Ammon B. Crichfield, adjutant general of Ohio, had begun construction of a new shooting facility on the shores of Lake Erie, 45 miles east of Toledo, Ohio. Camp Perry became the home of the annual National Matches, which have been the benchmark for excellence in marksmanship ever since. With nearly 6,000 people competing annually in pistol, smallbore and high-power events, the National Matches are one of the biggest sporting events held in the country today.

Through the association's magazine, The American Rifleman, members were kept abreast of new firearms bills, although the lag time in publishing often prevented the necessary information from going out quickly. In response to repeated attacks on the Second Amendment rights, NRA formed the Legislative Affairs Division in 1934. While NRA did not lobby directly at this time, it did mail out legislative facts and analyses to members, whereby they could take action on their own. In 1975, recognizing the critical need for political defense of the Second Amendment, NRA formed the Institute for Legislative Action, or ILA.

Meanwhile, the NRA continued its commitment to training, education and marksmanship. During World War II, the association offered its ranges to the government, developed training materials, encouraged members to serve as plant and home guard members, and developed training materials for industrial security. NRA members even reloaded ammunition for those guarding war plants. Incidentally, the NRA's call to help arm Britain in 1940 resulted in the collection of more than 7,000 firearms for Britain's defense against potential invasion by Germany (Britain had virtually disarmed itself with a series of gun-control laws enacted between World War I and World War II).

After the war, the NRA concentrated its efforts on another much-needed arena for education and training: the hunting community. In 1949, the NRA, in conjunction with the state of New York, established the first hunter education program. Hunter Education courses are now taught by state fish and game departments across the country and Canada and have helped make hunting one of the safest sports in existence. Due to increasing interest in hunting, NRA launched a new magazine in 1973, The American Hunter, dedicated solely to hunting issues year-round. NRA continues its leadership role in hunting today with the Youth Hunter Education Challenge (YHEC), a program that allows youngsters to build on the skills they learned in basic hunter education courses. YHECs are now held in 43 states and three Canadian provinces, involving an estimated 40,000 young hunters.

The American Hunter and The American Rifleman were the mainstays of NRA publications until the debut of The American Guardian in 1997. The Guardian was created to cater to a more mainstream audience, with less emphasis on the technicalities of firearms and a more general focus on self-defense and recreational use of firearms. The Guardian was renamed America's 1st Freedom in June of 2000.

Law enforcement training was next on the priority list for program development. Although a special police school had been reinstated at Camp Perry in 1956, NRA became the only national trainer of law enforcement officers with the introduction of its NRA Police Firearms Instructor certification program in 1960. Today, there are more than 10,000 NRA-certified police and security firearms instructors. Additionally, top law enforcement shooters compete each year in eight different pistol and shotgun matches at the National Police Shooting Championships held in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

In civilian training, the NRA continues to be the leader in firearms education. Over 55,000 certified instructors now train about 750,000 gun owners a year. Courses are available in basic rifle, pistol, shotgun, muzzleloading firearms, personal protection, even ammunition reloading. Additionally, nearly 2,800 certified coaches are specially trained to work with young competitive shooters. Since the establishment of the lifesaving Eddie Eagle GunSafe® Program in 1988, more than 21 million pre-kindergarten to sixth grade children have learned that if they see a firearm in an unsupervised situation, they should "STOP. DON'T TOUCH. LEAVE THE AREA. TELL AN ADULT." Over the past seven years, Refuse To Be A Victim® seminars have helped more than 15,000 men and women develop their own personal safety plan using common sense strategies.

In 1990, NRA made a dramatic move to ensure that the financial support for firearms-related activities would be available now and for future generations. Establishing the NRA Foundation, a 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt organization, provided a means to raise millions of dollars to fund gun safety and educational projects of benefit to the general public. Contributions to the Foundation are tax-deductible and benefit a variety of American constituencies including youth, women, hunters, competitive shooters, gun collectors, law enforcement agents and persons with physical disabilities.

While widely recognized today as a major political force and as America's foremost defender of Second Amendment rights, the NRA has, since its inception, been the premier firearms education organization in the world. But our successes would not be possible without the tireless efforts and countless hours of service our nearly four million members have given to champion Second Amendment rights and support NRA programs. As former Clinton spokesman George Stephanopoulos said, "Let me make one small vote for the NRA. They're good citizens. They call their congressmen. They write. They vote. They contribute. And they get what they want over time."

Past Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and her life partner, Mark Kelly, on Tuesday reported an over the country tour to rally underpin for advancing individual checks on gun purchases.

The weeklong "Rights and Responsibilities Tour" will begin on July 1 in Nevada, and join stops in Alaska, Maine, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota and Ohio, unwavering with Usa Today.

"I've been around guns my whole life, and I understand that as an American, my privilege to control a weapon runs as a connected unit with my dedication to be a heedful gun holder and to do my part to check guns don't succumb to the hands of culprits or dangerously sanely wiped out people," Kelly said in an explanation, according to Cnn.

"Gabby and I are energized to hit the road this center of the year and meet so an imposing number of the inconceivable Americans who are standing with us to head off to fight in the interest of handy judgement abilities comes about for envision weapon viciousness and guarantee our rights."

The tour consolidates visits to states stood for by antiextremist congresspersons who voted against a recorded check correction in April, enough butchering weapon control establishment championed by the president in the repercussions of the Newtown, Conn., simple school shooting. That bill may have required chronicled confirmations on weapons acquired over the Internet and at gun exhibits, yet fell five votes short of the 60 needed for segment.

Sens. Mark Begich and Heidi Heitkamp have been impacted by gun control totals for their "no" votes, as has Sen. Kelly Ayotte.

At a gun event former this month at the White House, Vice President Biden needed that political energy may drive some picked commanding voices in the upper load to rethink.

"I know past all question some of them question now that was a wise vote," Biden said.

"The country has altered," he continued. "You will pay a quality, a political cost for not getting enthralled and administering gun wellbeing."

Criminal firearm violence chart: 1993- 2011

Number

Percent

Year

Total fatal and nonfatal firearm violence

Firearm homicides

Nonfatal firearm victimizations

Nonfatal firearm incidents

Rate of nonfatal firearm

All firearm violence that was homicide

1993

1,548,000

18,253

1,529,700

1,222,700

7.3

9.2

1994

1,585,700

17,527

1,568,200

1,287,200

7.4

9.3

1995

1,208,800

15,551

1,193,200

1,028,900

5.5

7.9

1996

1,114,800

14,037

1,100,800

939,500

5.1

7.9

1997

1,037,300

13,252

1,024,100

882,900

4.7

7.7

1998

847,200

11,798

835,400

673,300

3.8

7.0

1999

651,700

10,828

640,900

523,600

2.9

6.1

2000

621,000

10,801

610,200

483,700

2.7

7.3

2001

574,500

11,348

563,100

507,000

2.5

7.7

2002

551,800

11,829

540,000

450,800

2.3

7.4

2003

479,300

11,920

467,300

385,000

2.0

6.2

2004

468,100

11,624

456,500

405,800

1.9

6.9

2005

515,900

12,352

503,500

446,400

2.1

7.4

2006

627,200

12,791

614,400

552,000

2.5

7.4

2007

567,400

12,632

554,800

448,400

2.2

8.3

2008

383,500

12,179

371,300

331,600

1.5

6.0

2009

421,600

11,493

410,100

383,400

1.6

7.4

2010

426,100

11,078

415,000

378,800

1.6

8.6

2011

478,400

11,101

467,300

414,600

1.8

8.2

A victimization refers to a single victim that experienced a criminal incident.

An incident is a specific criminal act involving one or more victims or victimizations.

Sources: Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey, 1993–2011; and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS), 1993–2010. Retrieved March 2013 from www.cdc.gov/ncipc/wisqars.

HIGHLIGHTS

Firearm-related homicides declined 39%, from 18,253 in 1993 to 11,101 in 2011.

Nonfatal firearm crimes declined 69%, from 1.5 million victimizations in 1993 to

467,300 victimizations in 2011.

For both fatal and nonfatal firearm victimizations, the majority of the decline occurred during the 10-year period from 1993 to 2002.

Firearm violence accounted for about 70% of all homicides and less than 10% of all nonfatal violent crime from 1993 to 2011.

About 70% to 80% of firearm homicides and 90% of nonfatal firearm victimizations were committed with a handgun from 1993 to 2011.

From 1993 to 2010, males, blacks, and persons ages 18 to 24 had the highest rates of firearm homicide.

In 2007-11, about 23% of victims of nonfatal firearm crime were injured.

About 61% of nonfatal firearm violence was reported to the police in 2007-11.

In 2007-11, less than 1% of victims in all nonfatal violent crimes reported using a firearm to defend themselves during the incident.

In 2004, among state prison inmates who possessed a gun at the time of offense, less than 2% bought their firearm at a flea market or gun show and 40% obtained their firearm from an illegal source.

TAX guns and ammo

Chicago—Cook County this month started gathering a $25 tax on weapon buyers, and no less than six states are avowing new assesses on weapons or release control as a track to assist pay for the finishes of weapon wildness.

The calling is hinged on to raise $600,000 a year, which will help pay for poverty stricken discharge betrayed individuals' medicinal expectant thought at territory run Stroger Hospital.

The commitment won't fundamentally serve as an impediment to weapon purchasers, she says, yet "its an acknowledgment that we as a social solicitation pay an unpleasant cost for the flourishing of weapons."

A social affair of weapon shippers and holders sued to piece the weapon assessment, truism it misuses the Second Amendment right to pass on weapons.

Weapon and weapons buys are committed to neighborhood bargains charges, and creators pay a picked concentrate charge—10% for weapons and weapons, 11% for assorted weapons, shells and cartridges—that finances untamed life strategies.

Lawrence Keane, general bearing of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which stands for firearm makers, wholesalers and retailers, says suggestions for new weapon charges are "a facilitated enterprise by weapon control social undertakings to try to encroach a study charge on the development of the Second Amendment."

Such charges don't make more secure congregations, Keane says. "They trouble and baffle the movement of a consecrated right," he says.

Foundation advance in Congress might add a 10% evaluation to handgun buys to pay for weapon buybacks and assorted systems.

• California Assembly part Roger Dickinson, a Democrat, displayed a charge that may consolidate a 5-penny evaluation to the arrangement of each slug. A listening to is organized April 15. An imperative part of the $50 million in surveyed work might take off to restore supporting for mental health screening undertakings in basic schools, he says.

Proposing an alternate expense is "a fragile location around then," he says, yet the political dangers are "worth paying."

• A trustees got insistence a week again on a Nevada charge that may make a $25 cost for weapon deals and a 2-penny cost on each round of release power. Stores might profit schmucks' conglomerations and mental health plans.

David Linsky, a Democrat, proposed a 25% arrangements examination on fire control and guns, with the cash set to mental health and chumps' skeletons, police arranging and guns permitting. "We infringe smoke, we encroach liquor, we charge various things that have a negative impact on social ask for," he says.

Legislators looking to all the more tightly administer guns in the wake of the Newtown school shooting and various butchers are moving at the state and picked levels to show new assesses on guns and weapons.

The bills take after tries to boycott strike weapons and high-limit magazines and unfold scholastic checks, measures that have had blended triumph at the state level.

The charges--much like demonstrated "sin charges," like those on cigarettes-serve a twofold demonstration for why. They can check purchasers, while utilizing the incorporated occupation for upheld systems. Thusly, the supporter need to control the cash to mental health conglomerations, police getting prepared and beguiled individuals' medication.

"On the off risk that anything, weapon holders should be getting an overhead discount for assisting decrease wrongdoing," said Lawrence Keane, senior Vp and general heading for the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

He said the reason outdated is to "confound and limit the development of the Second Amendment." While noting a rate of the work from these overheads and charges might take off to chumps' administrations, Keane said those paying the commitment are basically not those obligated for weapon wrongdoing.

"We're obviously to an exceptional degree constrained to attempt to work the true blue practice of the Second Amendment rights by law-withstanding Americans," he told Foxnews.com.

Guns makers beginning starting late pay a picked charge, which takes off to untamed life protecting. A commitment on arrangements might make guns costlier.

The wages may be utilized to underpin back a national firearm buyback approach.

Roger Dickinson a month former well known a bill with encroach a 5-penny charge on each shot.

"An obliged commitment on arms is an unassuming cost to pay for better mental social security for kids in our state," he said in a later illumination. The income from the charge may take off to screening youthful individuals for eager suffering.

Some different states have shown commensurate measures. David Linsky is prodding a 25 percent arrangements encroach bursting energy and weapons. Jon Cardin has shown a bill encroaching a 50 percent charge on ammo, and a twelve-month $25 firearm enrollment charge.

Furthermore consistent with the Las Vegas Review Journal, Assembly Majority Leader William Horne is poking a draft charge that may join a $25 for every weapon plans charge, regardless of a 2-penny charge for each round of arms.

In the wake of the tragic shooting in Colorado, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg called on President Obama and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney to explain what they would do about gun violence.

“Soothing words are nice,” said the mayor, an independent and gun control advocate who has not endorsed in the presidential race. “But maybe it’s time the two people who want to be president of the United States stand up and tell us what they’re going to do about it, because this is obviously a problem across the country.”

Speaking to reporters Friday, spokesman Jay Carney suggested there would be no new policy in the wake of this shooting.

“The president believes we need to take common sense measures that protect the Second Amendment rights of Americans while ensuring that those who should not have guns under existing laws do not get them,” he said. “And there has been progress in that regard in terms of improving the volume and quality of information in background checks.”

The candidates’ positions on gun control, which has been a back burner issue for years now, also seem unlikely to change.

“I’m not going to take away your guns,” Obama promised in September 2008. However, he advocated closing the loophole that allows for gun purchases without background checks at gun shows and for reinstating the assault weapons ban.

Obama kept his promises to gun owners but not to gun control advocates, who have been frustrated by the White House’s lack of interest.

The president signed bills allowing guns in national parks and on Amtrak. He has not pushed for the reinstatement of the assault weapons ban — and Attorney General Eric Holder was reportedly chastised for suggesting he would. Nor has he moved towards closing the gun-show loophole.

In his remarks after the 2011 shooting in Tucson, Arizona, Obama barely mentioned gun control, and it did not come up in his State of the Union weeks later. That March, Obama wrote an Arizona Daily Star op-ed calling for better background checks. But the tragedy did not inspire serious gun-control initiatives.

Yet the National Rifle Association is still ardently anti-Obama and gun enthusiasts still view him very negatively.

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has actually been more active than Obama on gun control — albeit during his time in Massachusetts. Since leaving office, he has moved away from those positions.

While running for Senate in Massachusetts in 1994, Romney supported background checks and a ban on some assault weapons. “That’s not going to make me the hero of the NRA,” he said. Running for governor in 2002, he said, “We do have tough gun laws in Massachusetts — I support them. I won’t chip away at them. I believe they help protect us, and provide for our safety.”

As governor, in 2004, signed an assault-weapons ban in the state. However, that law won support from some gun-rights advocates by making it easier to get and renew a firearms license. Romney also raised the state’s gun-registration fee from $25 to $75.

Romney joined the National Rifle Association in 2006, a few months before launching his first presidential bid. “I’m a member of the NRA and believe firmly in the right to bear arms,” he said in 2007.

Pressed by NBC’s Tim Russert on the issue that year, he said, “I support Second Amendment rights, but I don’t line up 100 percent with the NRA. They take some positions that are different than mine.” He continued to support the assault-weapons ban, reaffirming that position in a 2008 debate.

However, in a subsequent interview with conservative bloggers, Romney said, “I don’t support any gun control legislation, the effort for a new assault weapons ban, with a ban on semi-automatic weapons, is something I would oppose. There’s no new legislation that I’m aware of or have heard of that I would support.”

Romney’s position has not changed notably since. In a recent speech to the NRA, he said, “We need a president who will enforce current laws, not create new ones that only serve to burden lawful gun owners.” He suggested that in a second term, Obama would do more to restrict gun rights.

But neither candidate seems poised to change current gun policy. Just as public opinion on gun control does not shift in the wake of such tragedies, both Romney and Obama are likely to play it safe.

For the guns confined by some present, proposed, or previous laws in the United States, see assault weapon.

Not to be befuddled with assault weapon.

An assault rifle is a particular shoot (particular between automatic, semi-automatic, and blast discharge) rifle that uses a halfway cartridge and a separable magazine.[1] Assault rifles are the standard administration rifles in generally cutting edge armed forces. Note the contrast between the assault rifle and the fight rifle. Assault rifles use littler cartridges and are utilized at closer extends than fight rifles. The bigger measured rifle cartridges utilized as a part of fight rifles make completely automatic shoot more challenging. Completely automatic shoot implies a capability for a rifle to shoot ceaselessly while the trigger is pressed; "blast proficient" shoot implies a capacity of a rifle to shoot a little yet altered various number of rounds with however one press of the trigger; interestingly, semi-automatic implies a capability to discharge one adjust for every press of a trigger. The vicinity of specific shoot modes on assault rifles licenses more effective utilization of rounds to be shot for particular needs, versus having a solitary mode of operation, for example completely automatic, consequently monitoring munitions while amplifying on-target correctness and adequacy.

The assault rifle turned into the standard military rifle in the post-World War Ii period. The Soviet Union was the first country in the post-war time to embrace an assault rifle, the Ak-47, and different countries accompanied later. Battle encounter throughout the World Wars had indicated that generally infantry battle occurred at 200–300 meters (220–330 yards) separation and that the victor of any given firefight might probably be the unified with the most elevated rate of blaze. The rifle cartridges of the day were consequently unnecessarily effective, generating force and report in return for negligible profit. The easier force of the transitional cartridge implied that every warrior could shoot more shots speedier or with less withdraw and its lighter weight permitted more ordnance to be conveyed.

Second Amendment:

A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

This right was delineated by Blackstone as a right hand right, supporting the consistent concessions of self-assurance, impenetrability to abuse, and the group commitment to act in show with respect to the state. Insightful ask for into the excuse for why, degree, and effect of the amendment has been doubtful and subject to different interpretations.

Factory admin, 307 U.s. This choice has been significantly depicted as flawed, and touched off a verbal showdown on if the revision secured a solitary right, or a total volunteer guard right.

570 (2008), the Supreme Court chose that the Second Amendment "ordered a former right" and that it "guarantees a solitary right to hold a weapon unconnected with management in a regular person armed force, and to use that arm for generally lawful purposes, for instance self-safeguarding inside the home" notwithstanding communicated that "the right is not unrestricted.

The repudiating theories, possibly bended, were a "different rights" approach, whereby the Amendment secured individuals' rights to firearm proprietorship, proprietorship, and transportation; and a "states' rights" approach, under which the Amendment recently guaranteed the right to keep and remain fight primed in cooperation with requested state nearby armed force units.

2. Moreover, it was generally acknowledged that the Amendment was only a bar to chose action, not to state or metropolitan restraints.

3. However, the Supreme Court has now out and out held that the Second Amendment secures a solitary's privilege to control a firearm unconnected with organization in a citizen guard, and to use that weapon for usually true blue purposes, for instance self-conservation inside the home.

In Heller, the Court held that the District of Columbia's total blacklist on handgun proprietorship in the home wound up as a disallowance on an entire class of "arms" that Americans overwhelmingly picked for the lawful inspiration behind self-insurance, and along these lines harmed the Second Amendment; and the District's need that any legitimate firearm in the home be destroyed or bound by a trigger lock similarly contaminated the Second Amendment, since the law made it unimaginable for occupants to use arms for the focal point honest to goodness purpose behind self-security.

The Court considered that the Amendment's prefatory condition, i.e., "[a] for the most part maintained Militia, being basic to the security of a free State," asserted the Amendment's excuse for why, however did not compel or develop the degree of the operator condition, i.e., "the right of the people to keep and convey weapons, should not be infringed."

Moreover, the prefatory procurement's history comported with the Court's interpretation, in light of the fact that the prefatory procurement stemmed from the Anti-Federalists' stress that the national government may cripple the people remembering the final objective to weaken the locals' non military person armed force, enabling a politicized standing equipped energy or a select nearby guard to run the show. The Court examined that this right is urgent to the nation's arrange of asked for flexibility, given that self-safeguarding was a key right recognized by various honest systems from matured times to the present, and Heller held that solitary self-security was "the halfway portion" of the Second Amendment right.

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Do you agree or disagree with NRA gun policies?

YES, I agree with NRA policies

NO, I disagree with NRA policies

Do you agree or disagree with Universal background checks for all gun buyers?

Yes, we should have background checks

No, we should not have background checks

Do you agree or disagree with national gun registry to all gun owners?

Yes - we should have a gun registry

No - we should not have a gun registry

Do you agree or disagree with closing the gun show loophole?

Yes - we should close the loophole

No - we should not close the loophole

Do you agree or disagree with Requiring Firearms Dealers to Report Bulk Sales of Assault Rifles?

Yes - we should require Dealers to report bulk sales

No - we should not require Dealers to report bulk sales

Do you agree or disagree with Carrying a Loaded and Concealed Gun in Public?